Sol
Sol is the name of the primary star in the system that contains the planet Earth. It was the first star ever known to Humanity. Sol is considered an average star in having a stellar classification of G2V, meaning that it is a yellow-white main sequence star that has an age of approximately 5 billion years. Sol is the name that is used given the interstellar nature of the UEG and the Alliance, but within the system, the population generally just calls it, 'the Sun'. Sol has a system containing eight planets and multiple dwarf planets. It has been occupied by Humans and by Forerunners following the defeat of the First Empire 110,000 years ago. Stellar Description By all standards, Sol is not an impressive star in the slightest. It is a relatively common star of its type. It's classification as a G-type star means that it is somewhere around the middle when it comes to surface temperature, and in terms of luminosity, it is also something that would not raise an eyebrow. The star formed over 5 billion years ago when a large gas cloud clumped together to coalesce into what became a star. It gathered dust and gas together to form its system of mostly small terrestrial worlds with a few gas giants in the outer regions forming beyond the frost line of the star. Sol operates on a stellar cycle of roughly 11 years, meaning that solar activity peaks at just over a decade where it spews flares more often and sometimes of a stronger variety. Its surface temperature is roughly 5000K which is not unusual for a star of that size. Compared to some of the surrounding stars within a 10 lightyear radius, the Sun is neither the oldest, nor the largest. What makes the sun unusual is that it is a lone star in a solar system. Many stars are bound together in binary system or larger. This was for a long time considered one of the reasons as to why life evolved on Earth in the first place in that it was not too hot, nor too cold thanks to there only being one star and one star only. Sol is also the undisputed gravitational center of the system, containing 99% of all mass. It does possess a wobble because of this, though from outside observation, the effect is slight due to the center of gravity only being slightly away from Sol's core. Because of it's age, it is possible that within 500 million years, the Sun will become more luminous and will output more heat which is feared to make the planet uninhabitable, though this is no longer a problem for Humanity who have left the system hundreds of years ago, ensuring that the Human race will never face that level of extinction. The Sol system is as follows: * Mercury * Venus * Earth (known as Erde-Tyrene or Erda to the First Empire) * Mars (known as Edom to the Forerunners * Jupiter * Saturn * Uranus * Neptune Cultural Significance Because it was the first source of light known to mankind, Sol has become a religious symbol to some cultures. In Greek mythology, the name for the sun god was Helios, who drew the chariot holding the sun across the sky every day. This god eventually became the name for the sun in the Greek language. Multiple cultures outright worshiped the sun as a god. In Egyptian mythology, Amum-Ra was the name for the god that manifested as the sun itself, specifically the noon-day sun. In Pagan religions, the sun itself is equally worshiped as a manifestation of nature. The Pagans were even able to correctly predict the path of the sun throughout the year. In other religions, the sun is considered one of the first things ever created in the universe. In Judaeo-Christian mythology, God created light first, which is commonly associated with the sun, though He only separated day and night on a later biblical 'day'. The sun is the primary lifegiver of the Earth, and many early cultures, so reverence is given to it. Even in the space age, Humans realized that the sun was incredibly important to their own survival. Solar power stations were set up in space to get more efficient exposure to the sunlight. Solar power stations surround the orbit gathering gigawatts of energy to send back to Earth, whose gigantic cities need sustenance. Sol inhabits a bit of a cultural joke known as the One-Star Constellation, also known as 'the Wanderer'. The reason for this is on different planets, Sol inhabits different locations in the sky, and records make it harder to determine the exact location since many worlds have different constellations based on their own cultures. Eventually people became bored with the concept of having to place Sol in a particular constellation and the joke became that Sol, being so important, became its own constellation in its own right. List of Appearances * All works of The Chaos Chronicles Category:Stars Category:Locations